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I keep having the same dream.
Ferid is coming, so Krul has us hide. Not just Yu-chan and myself, but all of us.
“Stay up, my seraphs, so no one can find you.” Krul shoves Yu-chan and myself into a couple of alcoves between various book titles labeled Exotic Creatures and How to Tame a Wild Thing. Fortunately we fit, because Yu-chan and I are small again. “Not vampires, not members of the Moon Demon Company, not demons. Remember all you are is livestock, too small to do anything.”
Perhaps there’s a hint of compassion in her red eyes as she looks at us. Krul is not nearly as cruel as her name would suggest. She would be kind to us if she could, but this is all she can do. Conceal us from the world.
In the meantime, Akane and the rest of our family finds every shelf and corner they can do to tuck themselves in. They’re small, too, easy to miss, but why are we hiding in a library?
Answer, we are hidden knowledge. We’ve been concealed among the other books.
“I’m coming, my poor lost lambs!” Ferid sings out as he stalks between the bookshelves only to confront Krul. “Oh, my, is that for me? Do you think you can stop me?”
Krul faces Ferid with a scythe in her hand, only it’s not Krul. It’s Shinoa, standing between the vampire and us with all the bravery she once did on the battlefield. The weapon glows in her hand, casting an angelic halo around her lavender head, giving her an almost divine aura.
If this was an old story, she’d drive Ferid back, maybe plunge her scythe into his heart, turning him into dust, but it’s not. Whatever power Shinoa has isn’t enough.
Ferid moves faster than the eye can follow, knocking the scythe out of her hands. He draws a sharp, purple nail across her throat.
Shinoa falls, only she’s no longer Shinoa. It’s Akane, lying bleeding between the stacks.
“Bastard!” Mitsuba, too close in temper to Yu-chan cannot bear the sight. She leaps out from her hiding place to avenge her fallen comrade, green axe glowing in her hands, but she’s too slow.
Ferid withdraws his hand only to thrust forward with his deadly fingers. He slashes at her neck, letting the crimson rain gush forward from her exposed flesh.
Mitsuba lands on top of Akane, almost as if she means to protect her, but her body is limp, liveless, way too small. It’s Chihiro, lying small and still, unable to get up again.
“Die, bloodsucker!” Kimizuki lunges out of the stacks, a blade in each hand. For a moment, he blocks Ferid’s strike, holding him at bay.
The vampire smiles, amused. He’s only taunting his prey. He brings back that red right hand, plunging it straight into Kimizuki’s heart.
For a moment, the vampire and the human gaze into each other’s eyes. Ferid allowed his grin to widen, keeping his hand in Kimizuki’s chest. I can hear him squeezing, a horrible, squishing sound.
Blood spurts out of Kimizuki’s mouth, raining down on Ferid’s face. The monster allows his tongue to dart out to savour the shower.
The vampire’s victim slides to the ground, much smaller than he was. It’s no longer Kimizuki, but Taichi who lays on the floor.
“I need to see the despair on your sweet little face, Mika-chan. Along with the heartbreak in those pretty green eyes of yours, Yu-chan.” Ferid’s red orbs gleam with lascvious pleasure. “I won’t be truly satiated until I do.”
“Leave them alone!” Yoichi springs forward, a bow in his hand, ready to fire green arrows at his target, but Ferid is too close.
The vampire grabs our final friend by the throat.
“Well, aren’t you cute? Maybe I will stop and sample you.” Ferid sinks his fangs into Yoichi’s throat.
Youichi’s teary green eyes seem to pick out Yu-chan above in the stacks, even as they grow glassy, while he struggles, stilling in the vampire’s embrace. “Yu-kun…” His lips part and stop moving.
“What a pity.” Ferid drops Youichi’s lifeless body to the floor, only it’s now Ako’s. “He died so quickly.”
This is more than Yu-chan can bear. “I’ll kill you!” He hurls himself out of his hiding place, emerald eyes streaming tears.
“Yu-chan, no!” This is my breaking point, where I can take no more. Ferid devoured everyone, but he can’t have Yu-chan. Not ever. Nor can I let Yu-chan face him by himself.
I allow myself to drop from the stacks, falling at Yu-chan’s side. I draw the gun, Ferid’s own gun, hoping to get out off one spare shot before the vampire can lay a fang or a finger on Yu…
…only to shudder myself awake with Yu-chan’s arms around me.
“I don’t need to ask. I’ve had the same dream.” Yu holds me as if he’s afraid I might disappear or dissolve if he doesn’t.
“I’m not sure if I dare to embrace your new family as my own,” I whisper into his hair. “I’m terrified enough of what might happen to you.”
“You think I’m not?” Yu-chan lets out a shaky laugh. “Especially since the vampire who killed our first family and took you from me is still alive.”
“Yu-chan.” I can offer this much assurance if nothing else. “Ferid Bathory never took me from you. I’m right here with you.”
“Would you hate me if I said it gave me hope?” He let out another shaky laugh. “The fact that I have you makes me hope I can hold onto this new family.”
“Families are so fragile, yet precious.” I bury my face into his shoulder, breathing in the scent of him. “They’re so easily broken.”
“No, they’re not.” Yu takes my face in his hands, forces me to look into his eyes. “Not if we refuse to allow ourselves to be broken. Not if we keep getting stronger.”
“Such optimism,” I murmur against his skin. “Where do you get it from?”
“Where do you think I get it, you idiot?” I hear the smile in his words, even though I’m no longer looking at his face. “From you, of course.”
From me? How did it come from me?
I’ve never been optimistic. He’s always been the hopeful one. Seeing the spirit in his green eyes made me try to figure out ways to make those hopes a reality, to make his dreams come true.
All I’ve ever done is try to keep it together, try to control myself. All that’s ever kept me going was the thought of Yu-chan.
How exactly do I give *him* hope?
Yu-chan is such an idiot sometimes.
If Ferid or anyone else were to take him from me, I don’t know what I’d do. I’d lose all hope. Protecting him has become my main reason for living.
Here’s hoping I’m strong enough to do that. I don’t want to be another fragile family member, shattering his heart into a thousand pieces when I break.
We’ve both broken enough as it is.